While the slow foot their tardy march delay, The thicket's depth, with hurried pace, they tread, With brakes entangled, scarce a path between, The boughs and winding turns his steps mislead; « O God! my boy," he cries, « of me bereft, Nisus no more the blackening shade conceals, Forth, forth he starts, and all his love reveals; Aghast, confused, his fears to madness rise, And pour these accents, shrieking as he flies: He only loved too well his hapless friend; Celestial pair? if aught my verse can claim, No future day shall see your names expire; TRANSLATION FROM THE MEDEA OF WHEN fierce conflicting passions urge Which rolls the tide of human woe? Can rouse the tortured breast no more; The wild desire, the guilty flame, Absorbs each wish it felt before. But, if affection gently thrills The soul, by purer dreams possest, In love can soothe the aching breast; Eat, never from thy golden bow May I with some fond lover sigh! Now dearer, as my peaceful home, A hapless, banish'd wretch to roam; May I resign this fleeting breath, Have I not heard the exile's sigh? And seen the exile's silent tear? Thy steps, within a stranger's doors. To fair affection's truth unknown, Inpitied, helpless, and alone; FUGITIVE PIECES. THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY A COLLEGE His in the midst, surrounded by his peers, * Melka, who accompanied Jason to Corinth, was deserted by him for the daughter of Creon, king of that city. The Chorus from ** this taken, here address Medea; though a considerable liberty ales with the original, by expanding the idea, as also in some ** parts of the translation. As all around sit wrapt in speechless gloom, Happy the youth! in Euclid's axioms tried, What! though he knows not how his fathers bled, Such is the youth, whose scientific pate, We speak to please ourselves, not move the crowd; A proper mixture of the squeak and groan; The man, who hopes t' obtain the promised cup, No matter what, so it can not be heard Thus let him hurry on, nor think to rest! The sons of science these, who, thus repaid, * The arrest us . Καθαραν ἀνοίξαντι Κληίδα φρενών : » with eager haste they court the lord of power, 1 No refertuna is here intended against the person mentioned under be sense of Magnus. He is merely represented as performing an mwa halako faction of his office. indeed such an attempt could only -up myself, as that gentleman is now as much distinguished • wes ok qacace, and the dignified propriety with which he fills his am, sa be was, in his younger days, for wit and conviviality. Whether 'tis PITT or P-TTY rules the hour:3 1 Celebrated Critics. The present Greek Professor at Trinity College, Cambridge; a man whose powers of mind and writings may perhaps justify thei preference. 3 Since this was written, Lord H. P--y has lost his place, and FRIEND of my youth! when young we roved, With Friendship's purest glow; The bliss which wing'd those rosy hours, The recollection seems, alone My pensive memory lingers o'er Those scenes regretted ever; As when one parent spring supplies Two streams, which from one fountain rise, Ilow soon, diverging from their source, Our vital streams of weal or wor, Nor mingle as before; Now swift or slow, now black or clear, And both shall quit the shore. Our souls, my Friend! which once supplied 'Tis mine to waste on love my time, Without the aid of Beason; For Sense and Reason (Critics know it) Nor left a thought to seize on. enbarquently (I had almost said coNSEQUENTLY) the honour of representing the University; a fact so glaring requires no comment. Poor LITTLE! Sweet, melodious bard! Repine not at thy lot; Thy soothing lays may still be read, And Critics are forgot. Still, I must yield those worthies merit, Bad rhymes, and those who write them; I really will not fight them;" In truth, dear I soar along from left to right, I think I said 't would be your fate May regal smiles attend you; If worth can recommend you. Yet, since in danger courts abonud, Where specious rivals glitter round, From snares may Saints preserve you; And grant your love or friendship ne'er From any claim a kindred care, But those who best deserve you. Oh! if you wish that happiness Be, still, as you are now. 1 These Stanzas were written soon after the appearance of a sever critique in a Northern review, on a new publication of the Britis i Anacreon. A Bard (borresco referens) defied his reviewer to mortal combat If this example becomes prevalent, our periodical centers must be dipt in the river Styx, for what else can secure them from the aumerous host of their enraged assailants! On could LE SAGE'S1 demon's gift This night my trembling form he'd lift, Then would, unroof'd, old Granta's halls Pedantic inmates full display; Fellows who dream on lawn, or stalls, The price of venal votes to pay. Turn would I view each rival wight, P―ity and P-Im—st—n survey; Who canvass there with all their might, Lo' candidates and voters lic, All full'd in sleep, a goodly number! A race renown'd for piety, Whose conscience won't disturb their slumber. Lord H, indeed, may not demur, Bat very seldom,-now and then. Some pretty livings in disposal; Lach hopes that one may be his lot, And, therefore, smiles on his proposal. Now, from the soporific scene Il turn mine eye, as night grows later, The studions sons of Alma Mater. Gors late to bed, yet early rises. Thus seeks unprofitable knowledge; To scan, precisely, metres Attic, or agitates his anxious breast In solving problems mathematic; W: reads false quantities in Sele, Or puzzles o'er the deep triangle, Deprived of many a wholesome meal,' In barbarous Latin3 doom'd to wrangle; The Folie Betrus of LE SAGE, where Asmodeus, the demon, The Chas an an elevated situation, and unroofs the houses hrawon on Greek metres displays considerable talent una bust, as might be expected in so difficult a work, is not - fee arturaty. The Tata of the schools is of the CANINE SPECIES, and not very Renouncing every pleasing page From authors of historic use; Preferring to the letter'd sage The square of the hypothenuse.' Still, harmless are these occupations, That hurt none but the hapless student, Compared with other recreations, Which bring together the imprudent. Who plans of reformation lay: And for the sins of others pray. Forgetting, that their pride of spirit, Their exultation in their trial, Detracts most largely from the merit Of all their boasted self-denial. 'Tis morn,-from these I turn my sight: What scene is this which meets the eye? A numerous crowd array'd in white,2 Across the green in numbers fly. Loud rings, in air, the chapel bell; 'Tis hush'd: What sounds are these I hear? The organ's soft celestial swell Rolls deeply on the listening ear. To this is join'd the sacred song, The royal minstrel's hallow'd strain; To such a set of croaking sinners. If David, when his toils were ended, Had heard these blockheads sing before him, To us his psalms had ne'er descended, In furious mood he would have tore 'em. The luckless Israelites, when taken, By some inhuman tyrant's order, But, if I scribble longer now, The deuce a soul will stay to read; 'Tis almost time to stop indeed. 1806. The discovery of Pythagoras, that the square of the hypothenuse is equal to the squares of the other two sides of a right angled triangle. On a Saint day, the students wear surplices in chapel. LACHIN Y GAIR. LACHIN Y GAIR, or, as it is pronounced in the Erse, Locn na Gan, towers proudly pre-eminent in the Northern Highlands, near Invercauld. One of our modern tourists mentions it as the highest mountain, perhaps, in Great Britain; be this as it may, it is certainly one of the most sublime and picturesque amongst our Caledonian Alps. Its appearance is of a dusky hue, but the summit is the seat of eternal snows near Lachin y Gair I spent some of the early part of my life, the recollection of which has given birth to the following Stanzas. AWAY, ye gay landscapes, ye gardens of roses! In you let the minions of luxury rove; Restore me the rocks where the snow-flake reposes, Though still they are sacred to freedom and love: Yet, Caledonia, beloved are thy mountains, Round their white summits though clements war, Though cataracts foam, 'stead of smooth-flowing fountains, I sigh for the valley of dark Loch na Garr. Ah! there my young footsteps in infancy wander'd, My cap was the bonnet, my cloak was the plaid;' On chieftains long perish'd my memory ponder'd, As daily I strode through the pine-cover'd glade; I sought not my home till the day's dying glory Gave place to the rays of the bright polar star; For Fancy was cheer'd by traditional story Disclosed by the natives of dark Loch na Garr. «Shades of the dead! have I not heard voices your Rise on the night-rolling breath of the gale?»> Surely the soul of the hero rejoices, And rides on the wind o'er his own Highland vale: Round Loch na Garr, while the stormy mist gathers, Winter presides in his cold icy car; Clouds there encircle the forms of my fathers They dwell in the tempests of dark Loch na Garr: «Ill-starr'd, though brave, did no visions foreboding Tell you that Fate had forsaken your cause?»> Ah! were you destined to die at Culloden, 3 Victory crown'd not your fall with applause; Still were you happy, in death's early slumber, You rest with your clan, in the caves of Braemar,4 The Pibroch resounds to the piper's loud number Your deeds on the echoes of dark Loch na Garr. you, Yet, still, are you dearer than Albion's plain: England thy beauties are tame and domestic To one who has roved on the mountains afar; Oh! for the crags that are wild and majestic, The steep frowning glories of dark Loch na Garr! This word is erroneously pronounced PLA, the proper pronunciation (according to the Scotch) is shown by the orthography. 11 allade here to my maternal ancestors, the GoRoss, many of whom fought for the unfortunate Prince Charles, better known by the name of the Pretender. This branch was nearly allied by blood, as well as attachment, to the STEWARTS. George, the second Earl of Hun ley, married the Princess Annabella Stewart, daughter of James the First of Scotland; by her he left four sons the third, Sir Wiliiam Gordon, I have the honour to claim as one of my progenitors. Whether any perished in the battle of Culloden 1 am not certain; bat as many fell in the insurrection, I have used the name of the principal action, pars pro toto.. 4 A tract of the Highlands so called; there is also a Castle of Braemar. • The Bagp pe. TO ROMANCE. PARENT of golden dreams, Romance! Thy votive train of girls and boys; I break the fetters of my youth; No more I tread thy mystic round, But leave thy realms for those of Truth. And, yet, 't is hard to quit the dreams Which haunt the unsuspicious soul, Where every nymph a goddess seems, Whose eyes through rays immortal roll; While Fancy holds her boundless reign, And all assume a varied hue, When Virgins seem no longer vain, And even Woman's smiles are true. And must we own thee but a name, And from thy hall of clouds descend; A Pylades' in every friend? To mingling bands of fairy elves: And Friends have feelings for-themselves. With shame, I own, I've felt thy sway, Repentant, now thy reign is o'er; No more thy precepts I obey, No more on fancied pinions soar: Fond fool! to love a sparkling eye, And think that eye to Truth was dear, To trust a passing wanton's sigh, And melt beneath a wanton's tear. Romance! disgusted with deceit, Far from thy motley court I fly, And sickly Sensibility; For any pangs excepting thine; To steep in dew thy gaudy shrine: Now join with sable Sympathy, With cypress crown'd, array'd in weeds, Who heaves with thee her simple sigh Whose breast for every bosom bleeds; And call thy sylvan female quire, To mourn a swain for ever gone, Who once could glow with equal fire, But bends not now before thy throne. Ye genial nymphs, whose ready tears, With fancied flames and phrenzy glow; From you a sympathetic strain. It is hardly necessary to add, that Pylades was the companion of ¦ Orestes, and a partner in one of those friendships which, with those of Achilles and Patroclus, Nisns aud Furyalus, Damon and Pyth as have been banded down to posterity as remarkable instances of attachments which, in all probability, never existed, beyond the imagination of the poet, the page of an historian, or modera novelist. |